Margrethe Vestager, a senior European Union (EU) official, has dismissed the threat that artificial intelligence (AI) poses to humanity.
She said while ‘guardrails’ were necessary she did not believe that there was a real threat to humanity from AI and a greater threat was AI discriminating against people.
In an interview with the BBC Vestager said: ‘Probably [the risk of extinction] may exist, but I think the likelihood is quite small. I think the AI risks are more that people will be discriminated [against], they will not be seen as who they are. If it’s a bank using it to decide whether I can get a mortgage or not, or if it’s social services on your municipality, then you want to make sure that you’re not being discriminated [against] because of your gender or your colour or your postal code.’
She also said that any regulation of AI had to be a ‘global’ approach and could not be done piecemeal.
A number of leading figures in computer science and related fields have raised the alarm about the possible threat that AI poses to humanity.
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